On average how many people die on cruise ships per year?

The vast majority (99.9%) of cruise ship deaths is people dying of natural causes, they would have died even if they were in their home or in their car. Cruise ships have mortuaries and procedures for handling the death of passengers. So if safety is your #1 concern, then concern yourself with personal health: not eating garbage food, regular cardiovascular exercise, and having a strong positive outlook on life with a strong social network. The odds of dying on a cruise ship (in your lifetime) due to things outside of your control (murder, sinking, or someone else's accident) is 1 in tens of millions. The odds of you dying in an automobile accident in your lifetime is about 1 in 100.

One indication of how safe cruise ships are is to examine the coroners' offices reports near major ports. Between 1999 and 2007, the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office in Florida reported 97 cruise ship deaths; the Miami Dade County Medical Examiner's Office recorded 33 cruise ship deaths since 2004. Partial data from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office noted 22 cruise ship deaths between 1991 and 2003. As a comparison, about 40,000 people died in car crashes every single year in America.

The average age of cruise passengers is 49, according to the cruise lines association, but on cruises that last longer than a week, the average age shoots up to 64. On Holland America's round-the-world cruises, the average passenger is 75, said Erik Elvejord, a spokesman.

But considering you don't die in the car ride to the cruise ship, and you don't get multiple organ failure for gluttony while on the ship, and you don't die of natural causes. Cruise ships are about the safest place a person can be. Walking down a flight of stairs is more dangerous than being on a cruise ship.